As an official war artist to the Admiralty during the Second World War, Eurich painted the war effort at home, epic maritime engagements, and stories of survival at sea. Although he did not witness action himself, he received confidential intelligence from the Ministry of Information. Living near Southampton, he was close to the centre of naval operations, studied the ships in harbour, and interviewed men involved in the conflict. Eurich’s war paintings were at once works of imagination and historical records: his distinctive vision of the sea merged with thoroughly researched depictions of the events.

This work is a starboard broadside view of MGB 46 (1939) at Hythe in the period November to December 1941. She was the only 70 feet BPB motor gunboat that had single 20 mm Oerlikon guns in each of the Plexiglas covered midships turrets and another on the stern. Also she has a slightly different bridge to the rest of her class. She had a Dutch crew from March 1941 to November 1942 and I am surprised that she is wearing the White Ensign instead of the Netherlands Ensign. The three men in blue on the foredeck are wearing Dutch uniforms.

Based at the Hythe Shipyard on Southampton Water, near where Eurich lived, the British Power Boat Company produced motorboats and gunboats during the Second World War. Eurich typically filled his paintings with narrative details. Eurich also painted a companion piece, The British Power Boat Company, 1941, see BHC1570.